Not that I'm an expert at all but it looks rather difficult to me. I would rather kick the 100.00 bucks or so for a premade, that is if my bees ever make enough honey that i would need one.

I'm with you although they are a heck of a lot more than 100 bucks. That two frame plastic job, from what I have heard, is a piece of junk. You may get lucky and find a used stainless steel extractor for $100 but I wouldn't hold my breath. I have a 3 frame, which is great for a beek with a few hives. I'll probably be selling mine in the next year or two. I am quickly outgrowing it.

I've got a 15 year old hand cranked four frame unit with a plastic barrel like honey extractor. Was used regularly prior to my receiving it as a gift when the former owner passed away. His daughter stated she watched him use it several times and that he enjoyed using it. But have yet to use it myself. Have no way of knowing who made it, but it appears to be well worth the price (gift for picking up it and a pickup full of hives and frames) I paid. 8-)

the bike wheel is similar to what I had in mind. I have the blue drum, a drill, and will soon have some wood and hardware cloth. I plan on making a two frame extractor that can do deeps or shallows. I hope. I havent looked at the overall dimensions of the barrel yet. My plan is to make a large rectangular frame that will hang centered on a shaft. the sides of this rectangle will be covered in the hardware cloth. Ideally the frames will slide in with top bars facing the walls of the barrel. Looking at the measurements from the bike wheel extractor I will have to make an offset set of rectangles to allow for the depth of the deep frames. Then again, I dont use deep frames for honey so I may just stick with the rectangle. And just a comment about using a ball valve for the honey gate. I dont recommend it. It might work good once or twice, but I think that once honey gets up in the area behind the ball that it will eventually freeze up.

I doubt the honey would freeze up behind the ball valve but I worry about cleaning it. You can build a variety of baskets to spin different comb. I have a tangental for deeps and an odd mesh basket that holds 38lbs of cappings, all of which fit in the same drum. Time is a currency. Spend wisely.

Logged

"Tell me again why you want to put a box with thousands of angry, stinging insects in our backyard?" - my wife.